Banks "Wladimir Klitchsko convinced me not to fight with a broken thumb"

In the conference call for the highly anticipated rematch, both Jonathon Banks and Seth Mitchell had alot to say about their fight against each other next Saturday night as they co-main event the Broner-Malignaggi fight at the Barclay's Center. Here are a few quotes from each fighter.

Jonathon Banks said that he wasn't going to pull out of the Feburary fight when he first broke his thumb.

"Actually I was going to fight with a broken thumb because I wanted to fight, and I don't like to, me personally as a fighter, I don't like preparing for a fight-preparing for a fight, you're spending your money. Preparing for a fight and then you call the fight off, I don't like doing that, and I was going to go through with the fight. Vladimir Klitschko called me and asked me not to go through with the fight. He said, dude, you broke your thumb, why would you take the risk going to a fight handicapped."

When Banks was asked if he felt like he made the right decision, he was confident he had.

"Definitely, definitely. I definitely made the right decision because as I said once that night, once I sat and thought about it and I said you know what, he's right, why will I go into fight handicap because I don't like to say okay, Johnathon Banks, you lost the second fight, what happened, I said well, you know, I don't know. I want to be 100%. If I lose, let me lose at 100%. I can live with that, losing at 100%, but I can't live with being halfway ready and then I lose. I don't want anything like that to happen."

Seth Mitchell was asked if he wanted to take another fight before the rematch and he said that he wasn't going to take a intermin fight, and wanted the immediate rematch as soon as he entered the locker room after the fight.

"This is a true story. When I went back into the dressing room, I was devastated that I had lost. It was a tough loss for me, but my first question is to Al. I asked him two questions. I said how far did this set me back and when can we get the rematch. That was my first two questions to Al, and I just wanted to get back in there not because I didn't think-I just wanted to get back in there because I'm a fighter and I lost."

When Mitchell was asked if there was a sense of urgency to appeal to the public after losing the first fight he said that he just wanted to win.

"I need to win the fight. That's my mindset. Obviously, I always want to go out there and I want to look impressive, and my style resonates with the fans and with the people, but at this point in time, these days in my career especially with this fight, the victory is most important. I've got to get the W."